[Arniesb]

On my Phonitor Mini, the HD800 has more bass quantity and impact than the T1, but is less tight. It's odd really. 

But the HD700 isn't going to be sold off at all. I still use them for gaming and they work really well for it!

Why dont you use hd800 for gaming? Why hd700 is better for that?

 

[Solarium]

I agree with Bosie.. As I used to own 009 and then 007MKI,
Stax are more true to the Sound of the any instrument, but nothing beats HD800 in timing/pinpoint accuracy.
I Would take HD800 in any Electronica genre, but for Real life instruments i Would take Stax 007.

Don't you find the HD800 to be too laid back and not as engaging for EDM?
 

  You might upgrade from T1 to HE6. I haven't heard the T1, but i can't imagine something imaging with more pinpoint accuracy than the HD800. It's just supremely accurate.

I really can't tolerate any of the heavier headphones, in fact the T1 is even pushing it at 350g's. Which is a shame because I'm missing out on a lot of good planars.
 
When I play CSGO using the HD800, which I feel is the best test for soundstage accuracy and imaging, it feels like the footsteps around me are a lot farther than where they are in reality. I found that the T1 represented the distances better. The HD800 separated certain sounds more so than what they appear.
 

   
On my Phonitor Mini, the HD800 has more bass quantity and impact than the T1, but is less tight. It's odd really. 
 
But the HD700 isn't going to be sold off at all. I still use them for gaming and they work really well for it!

I like to know why you like the HD700 better as well. After going to T1 and HD800, and trying the HD700 again, I could never go back. It's definitely lighter on your head and you can wear it for extended amount of time though, but perhaps it's my tastes changing, the HD700 is just too dark for me.

 

[Moonhead]

I find HD800 perfect for the electronic bands that I like and never felt that either 009 or 007 could compete with them, as they present the music so differently, as Stax has that bass bloom without the heft that dynamic or planars has, but if you want to listen to music with real acoustic intruments as in reference, Stax it is, IMO. 

 

[DavidA]

Why dont you use hd800 for gaming? Why hd700 is better for that?

 

   
I like to know why you like the HD700 better as well. After going to T1 and HD800, and trying the HD700 again, I could never go back. It's definitely lighter on your head and you can wear it for extended amount of time though, but perhaps it's my tastes changing, the HD700 is just too dark for me.

I use the HD-700 for gaming and watching movies since its easier to drive than the HD-800, when watching movies I can just plug the HD-700 into the HT receiver and since my gaming rig is separate from my music rig the HD-700 is easily driven by STX sound card.  The other reason is to me the HD-700 gives a better surround effect, I think the HD-800 is to spaced out, too far away to be realistic. 

 

[Arniesb]

I use the HD-700 for gaming and watching movies since its easier to drive than the HD-800, when watching movies I can just plug the HD-700 into the HT receiver and since my gaming rig is separate from my music rig the HD-700 is easily driven by STX sound card.  The other reason is to me the HD-700 gives a better surround effect, I think the HD-800 is to spaced out, too far away to be realistic. 

Oh, i see. Thanks, always good to learn something new.

 

[pietcux]

Oh, i see. Thanks, always good to learn something new.

The STX can drive the HD800 for gaming and movies with ease, it has adjustable gain settings. I have a large monitor, so maybe that is why for me the HD800 suits superb with gaming.

 

[Arniesb]

The STX can drive the HD800 for gaming and movies with ease, it has adjustable gain settings. I have a large monitor, so maybe that is why for me the HD800 suits superb with gaming.

50% usage will be for gaming for sure when i will buy HD800S. DT990 was eye opener, because i saw how more immersive games can sound with decent soundstage. Great for music and great for gaming. With 1 shot you hit 2 targets!

 

[Solarium]

The STX can drive the HD800 for gaming and movies with ease, it has adjustable gain settings. I have a large monitor, so maybe that is why for me the HD800 suits superb with gaming.

It's interesting that you brought up STX. I have a STX II and I always wondered whether it was enough to drive the HD800. The reason why I got a m9XX is because I felt that I would "need" a more expensive DAC/amp to drive something like the HD800 which is supposed to be very dependent on having good gear. After getting the m9XX, while noticing a subtle difference from the STX II, I felt like it was mostly the same. Compared to your other DAC's and amps, do you feel like the STX is enough to properly drive your HD800? I felt like like using the 7.1 setting on the STX II gives me better directional sound than have an external stereo DAC/amp.

   
I use the HD-700 for gaming and watching movies since its easier to drive than the HD-800, when watching movies I can just plug the HD-700 into the HT receiver and since my gaming rig is separate from my music rig the HD-700 is easily driven by STX sound card.  The other reason is to me the HD-700 gives a better surround effect, I think the HD-800 is to spaced out, too far away to be realistic. 

That's why I like the T1 over the HD800 for certain things. I felt like the T1 replaced whatever I used the HD700 for and does it better in every way practically except for the comfort and weight. Every time I tried going back to the HD700 because I missed it, I couldn't use it for more than an hour. Perhaps my taste has changed and I just prefer brighter sounds now.

 

[hekeli]

Just for giggles, tried to convert Sonarworks' HD800 unrestricted profile (flat preset) to xnor's foobar2000 eq, which is popular here..
 

 
Download: hd800_ab000b.xgeq
 
Gives pretty good demo at what Sonarworks tries to achieve, this is how I listen most of my stuff. Of course the real thing sounds a bit better (or a lot actually, I hear reverb tails, bass etc lot more clearly) and is much more easy to tweak.. everything well worth it to support a good company.
 
Used Voxengo SPAN to try match the outputs.. pretty close, didn't bother to tweak more..
 

 
It's actually what you see in Sonarworks correction curve..
 

 

[Taowolf51]

  Don't you find the HD800 to be too laid back and not as engaging for EDM?

Laid back? I dunno, the HD800's are many things, but laid back isn't really one of them, IMO.
I agree with him, the HD800's are excellent for electronic. They're fast, clean, aggressive, and detailed, which is perfect for the faster and more electronic electronic music. The electronic that heavily uses recorded sounds and acoustic instruments performs extremely well with the HD800's as well because it moves even further into the HD800's strengths.
 

   

 

 
Interesting. What is Sonarwork's compensation curve? It looks very similar to raw measurements without HRTF, which seems odd.

 

[hekeli]

  Interesting. What is Sonarwork's compensation curve? It looks very similar to raw measurements without HRTF, which seems odd.

 
As they say...
 

Our measurement curve follows the deviations from the defined target curve and corrects any dips and peaks to achieve a frequency response that will enable the system to sound like flat calibrated speakers.

 
Dunno the actual curve they use during measurement, but as you can see atleast hefty subbass boost is essential. 

 Quite a difference from the thin HD800 sound, had to really adjust my brain for quite a while to overcome any "muffled" feelings, but now I can't listen to anything else..

 

[JaZZ]

  Just for giggles, tried to convert Sonarworks' HD800 unrestricted profile (flat preset) to xnor's foobar2000 eq, which is popular here..
 

 
That bass boost is massive. No way my pair of HD 800 has a drop-off calling for this kind of compensation. Well, it's modified, but still... Here's my xnor EQ curve posted recently in the parallel thread:
 

 
I  have tried stronger low-bass increase as well, but it was clearly too much to my ears.

 

[hekeli]

  I  have tried stronger low-bass increase as well, but it was clearly too much to my ears.

 
Yep depends also how much of a basshead and specific electronica listener one is. Though I listen everything non-bassy music through the same curve too.. if there's nothing in the music down below, there's nothing to affect.. but some stuff you don't even realize has it and it makes a great surprise what you are missing.
 
But still, the target of the curve is targeting a flat speaker response. Headphones simply need volume to feel down to 20hz. And HD800 actually handles it like a champ, unlike certain wimpy planars that start crackling under pressure.. 

 

 

[JaZZ]

 

  I  have tried stronger low-bass increase as well, but it was clearly too much to my ears.

 
Yep depends also how much of a basshead and specific electronica listener one is. Though I listen everything non-bassy music through the same curve too.. if there's nothing in the music down below, there's nothing to affect.. but some stuff you don't even realize has it and it makes a great surprise what you are missing.
 
But still, the target of the curve is targeting a flat speaker response. Headphones simply need volume to feel down to 20hz. And HD800 actually handles it like a champ, unlike certain wimpy planars that start crackling under pressure.. 

 

 
Though not a basshead, I like bass, especially low bass. I agree, the HD 800 is very capable here. But too much is too much (well, for me). Extremely low organ notes and bass drums already sound impressive with my (moderate – I must say now) curve.

 

[Taowolf51]

   
As they say...
 
 
Dunno the actual curve they use during measurement, but as you can see atleast hefty subbass boost is essential. 

 Quite a difference from the thin HD800 sound, had to really adjust my brain for quite a while to overcome any "muffled" feelings, but now I can't listen to anything else..

 
Interesting, perhaps they use something similar to Olive-Welti.